


How Could You Not Know

by retribution



Series: Rei x Senpai (Samurai AU) [5]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Injury, M/M, Samurai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 09:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6512887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/retribution/pseuds/retribution
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>so much has to go wrong before they can be righted. was the pain and uncertainty worth it? that is up to you to decide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Rin watched in growing horror as Rei noticed him and waved, and in doing so, completely missed the last step leading out to the courtyard.

“Watch out, Rei!” he shouted, his warning too late, his body too slow.  Before his eyes, Rei threw out his arms, flailing for support that was not there, finally succumbing to gravity as a crashing heap on the ground.

“Are you all right?” Rin asked, rushing to Rei’s side.  He was still holding onto his book in one hand, too, Rin noticed exasperatedly despite his concern.

Wincing, Rei nodded and gingerly got up into a sitting position.  “I- I think so, Rin-san.”  He glanced around, checking that his book was in one piece, and then finding his missing geta a short distance away, one strap torn out of place from the fall.  “Ah, I broke it!  How unlucky.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it.”  Rin grabbed the geta and then hurried back to Rei.  “We’ll find another pair, but for now, can you walk?”

“Of course.”  However, that did not turn out to be true, as they quickly discovered.  Rei let out a stifled noise of pain the moment he put weight on his left ankle, and Rin had to hold him up before he fell again.

“I think I may have strained my ankle somewhat,” Rei gritted out through clenched teeth, eyes tearing up behind his glasses.  “It’s not serious, but…”

Which meant it was probably pretty painful, if Rin knew anything about him.  “I can’t believe you, Rei, you actually managed to injure yourself returning my greeting.  No, don’t try to walk, I’m going to carry you to the infirmary.”

“You will do no such thing!”

Rin chose to ignore the objection and shoved the broken geta at Rei, who took it automatically and thus had no free hands with which to free himself when Rin picked him up in his arms.

“Rin-san, what if someone sees us?” Rei exclaimed, turning red around the ears, trying to throw an arm around Rin’s shoulders for support and accidentally (or probably not so accidentally) knocking him in the face with the geta.  “This is very embarrassing!  Please put me down!”

“Not going to happen!  This is partly my fault, so I’m going to see to it that you are taken care of,” Rin replied sternly, striding down the narrow hallways towards left wing, to the store room where the medicines were kept.  Despite his determined nonchalance about this, Rin still could not help but sprint, if a bit slowly, in the other direction when he heard Momotarou’s loud voice approaching their location.  Getting Momotarou involved with anything was a massive drain on time and patience; Rei needed his prompt attentions.

At last reaching the infirmary after two more detours to avoid Kisumi and Gou, Rin knelt and set Rei gently down upon the tatami, leaving him to watch in mortified silence as he shuffled around the room for bandages and salves.

“Do I need this stuff?  I don’t know…” Rin muttered to himself, opening several small drawers of the apothecary cabinet and peering at their mysterious contents.

“Rin-san,” Rei assured him, holding up the bandages and a small pot of ointment that were already gathered, “it’s fine, I can use these.”

“Hey, let me do it for you.”  When Rei opened his mouth to protest, Rin put his finger over his lips to shush him.  “I want to, all right?”

“Very well, then let me tell you what to do,” Rei said with a smile, before kissing Rin’s fingertips and causing him to blush fiercely, which he always did at these unprompted little gestures of affection.

Under Rei’s instructions, Rin applied a strong-smelling salve to help with pain and swelling of the area, and then set about carefully wrapping the cloth bandage around the ankle and heel to keep from jostling the injury any further.  Rin finished his wrapping off with the most aesthetically pleasing knot he could manage, but from Rei’s critical expression, he could tell it would be undone and re-tied as soon as he left the room.

“All done, Rei,” Rin said, very gently patting the afflicted ankle lying across his lap.  “Now you need to lie down and relax for the rest of the day, I’ll get you food and sake, too.  And another pair of sandals.”

“You know, I feel much better already.  Thank you, my hero,” Rei told him gratefully.  

Unable to leave him, Rin just watched him, eyes traveling up the elegant line of his ankle and calves to where an enticing strip of thigh peeked through the kimono that had been pushed aside during the bandaging process.  How fortunate that he was not wearing any hakama today, Rin thought, not willing to tear his gaze away for one moment from the flawless muscles that had been deemed worthy of his discerning sister’s admiration.

“Maybe for my assistance, we could work out some compensation,” he suggested, well, suggestively.

“Oh?  You didn’t do this out of the kindness of your heart?”

“I just had something else in mind for after,” Rin replied with a smoldering glance in Rei’s direction.  He leaned forward on his knees, one hand on the mat between Rei’s legs, the other hand skating over the bare pale skin.

“Something else?  Like what?” Rei asked, apparently still not catching on.

“…Never mind.”  Rin huffed, then paused in his entirely self-indulgent caressing.  “Wait, what is that?”

“What?”  Rei looked down to where Rin was pointing at his knee.

“You didn’t just get this, did you?” Rin asked, poking at the rough half-healed scabbing all over Rei’s knee, the yellowing bruises across the shins.  “No, it’s gotta be from a few days ago, and earlier.”  Now Rin was starting to look concerned.  “Seriously, how many times do you fall in a week, Rei?”

“It’s nothing to worry about, Rin-san,” Rei tried to reassure him, hiking the kimono back over his not-so beautiful knees.  “I’m fine now.”

“Tell me, what is going on?”

Rei shook his head.  “Absolutely nothing.”

“…No one’s been pushing you around, have they?” Rin persisted.  “Are you being bullied?  Just let me know who, I’ll take care of them!”

Letting out an incredulous scoff, Rei answered, “Me, bullied?  The one who defeated you, a master samurai, in a one on one duel?  Don’t be ridiculous, Rin-san!”  He adjusted his glasses with one hand and continued under his breath, “But perhaps I have been a little more careless of my surroundings of late...”

At a loss, Rin rubbed the back of his neck, biting at his lower lip in thought.  “All right… if you insist you’re fine.  But you know you can tell me if something’s bothering you.  Trust me, Rei, depend on me a little more.  And don’t hurt yourself trying to get my attention either!”

“I would not do such an ugly thing to myself if I can help it, Rin-san.”  With a small smile, Rei reached out and squeezed Rin’s free hand.  “And you know I do trust you.  We have a bond, do we not?  I will be more observant from now on, is that satisfactory?”

“I suppose.  But if I find out someone’s been bullying you, I’m not going to be happy,” Rin grumbled, getting to his feet.  “Stay here, Rei, I’ll be right back.”

Rin returned with dinner and a spare pair of his geta as promised, and Rei endured his fussing with no complaint.  While he enjoyed the attention, he noticed Rin’s attempt to hide his worry, it was that obvious, which in turn heightened his own guilt.

“Rin-san… you really don’t have to worry about me.”

“I know!” Rin retorted, his frustration finally vented.  “You can take care of yourself, yeah, I know that.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.  “It’s just… you have such beautiful legs.  Or well, had.”

Rei reached up to adjust his glasses meaningfully.  “Thank you?”

Realizing that probably was not the most polite thing to say, Rin added quickly, “I mean, you have beautiful everything, always have and always will.”

“I try.”

Snorting with amusement, Rin reached over and slapped him lightly on the shoulder.  “Beautiful ego, too.”

“I learn from the best, that is, you, Rin-san.”

“What?!  I don’t brag that much!”

“You most certainly do!” Rei said teasingly.

Laughing openly now, Rin pulled Rei closer for a kiss on the cheek.  “If you weren’t injured, I’d get you for that,” he declared.  “Hey, do you want to rest in my room now, Rei?  No one will bother us there.”

“Us?”

“Yes, us.  I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“I suppose I deserve it for the time being,” Rei sighed, though not too unhappily.  He did enjoy spending time with Rin, and the more private, the better. He would even tolerate being carried yet again.

Unfortunately, they progressed only a few steps down the hallway before Nagisa found them.

“Rin-chan, carry me, too!” Nagisa shouted merrily, racing towards Rin with every intention of jumping onto his back while he was carrying Rei in his arms.

“Nagisa, no!”

“Stop, Nagisa-kun!  He’s going to drop me!”

Somehow, Rin managed to stay upright under the impact of Nagisa’s tackle, faltering in his step just slightly.  But the sound of Nagisa’s laughter attracted Momotarou and Nitori walking from the other direction, and Rin whispered “save me,” as Momotarou got that familiar glint in his eye.  They were actually literally saved by Sousuke also noticing that look and swiftly grabbing Momotarou by the back of his kimono before he could run into Rin’s already occupied arms.

To make things worse, Haruka and Makoto wandered in behind Sousuke, and once he took in the scene before him, Haruka commented drily, yet just loudly enough to be heard over both Momotarou and Nagisa, that Rin should not be so rough in the bedroom next time.

“Shut it, Haru!” Rin snapped back, struggling to make his way through the crowd, Nagisa still clinging onto his back, Rei looking like he wanted to die and melt into the floorboards out of embarrassment. 

Not for the first time, Rin wondered why they were all at his house when they had houses of their own, some of which were in the next town over.


	2. Chapter 2

Rin managed to convince Nagisa to get off his back and onto Haruka’s back instead, and now equally handicapped, the two of them raced down the hallway despite Rei’s loud protests that all four of them were going to end up with sprained ankles this way.  Luckily, no one got injured or died, which was an improved change, considering Rin’s previous record of killing just about everyone who challenged or offended him.

“Rin-san… could we please go to your room now?  Before I get sick all over the both of us?”

“Huh?  Oh… yes, of course.”  Rin yelled back over his shoulder to the rest of their friends, “Everyone go home!” 

As unused as he was to drinking sake, Rei succumbed quickly to the effects of the alcohol, beginning to doze off in the bed the two of them shared, his book untouched since the fall.  Rin had been lying beside him to keep watch, and eventually he drew a blanket over Rei’s shoulders.  Rei felt Rin shift away from him, and reached out sleepily with one hand.

“Where are you going already, Rin-san?”  He had assumed they were going to be possibly and eventually, as Rin referred to it, fooling around together, so he did not expect Rin to leave after a severe lack of aforementioned.

“You had an exciting day, I figured I should let you nap for now, Rei.”

“Are you sure?” Rei mumbled. 

“Just got to take care of a few things, but I’ll be right back, don’t worry.”

“I think you’re the one who is worrying, Rin-san...”  But he was already drifting back to sleep against his will.

Right then, Seijuurou’s voice could be heard, a bit loudly, asking, “Are you naked, Rin?” and immediately afterward the door to Rin’s room slid open with a bang.  Rei smiled drowsily at Rin’s indignant hushed scolding, followed by Seijuurou’s and apparently also Kisumi’s chuckling.

Mikoshiba-san and Kisumi-san, what a strange and wild pair, Rei thought before he lost consciousness.

He woke up to the sound of soft conversation outside the screen door, the familiar melodious tone of Rin’s voice causing a pleasant flutter in his chest.  Rin seemed to be talking to Sousuke, judging by the deeper answering rumble.  Hearing his name, Rei perked up slightly, straining to make sense of the conversation.

“I mean… don’t you think it’s weird that Rei has skinned his knees so much? His hands looked a little roughed up, too.”

“Sometimes even the monkey falls from the tree.”

“Are you seriously using a proverb with me?” Rin shot back irritably.

“Well, it’s true,” Sousuke replied. “Not everyone is perfect all the time.”

“It’s just that Rei doesn’t seem the type to be clumsy even a little bit of the time.  He’s so concerned with his looks, and he’s trained at the monastery for years - you’ve seen those monks, they turn a potential slip on the floor into a perfect diving swallow kick without a single prayer bead out of place.”

“I think you’re overthinking this.”

Rin made a snorting noise.

“Rei is Rei.  Don’t try to make him out to be someone he’s not.  You have a bad habit of doing that, Rin.  Just accept him as he is, instead of some ideal image in your mind.”

“I’m not comparing Rei to anyone.  Not… that person…”

“Really? Because it sounds like you are.”

“Fine, maybe I was a little.  It’s hard not to, I... really like him… so much.” A brief tense pause and then, “I’m going to check on him now.”

After that, the door slid open, and Rei quickly shut his eyes and pretended he was still sleeping.  He heard footsteps approaching the bed, and felt a stray lock of hair brushed away from his face, fingers stroking his cheek tenderly.

“I’ll leave you two alone then,” Sousuke murmured, and the door slid closed as he exited.

Rin snuggled close beside him under the blankets, but Rei felt no comfort in his touch.  Only the guilty anxiety of discovering a secret he was not meant to hear, and the accompanying agony of being unable to do anything about it.

Who was this someone he was being compared to who was so impossibly perfect, Rei wondered.  It sounded like it might have been Haruka, but… they would have just said so, he was certain.  Could it be Rin’s own father, whom he had tried for years to emulate?  Neither possibility felt completely correct, not by the depth of sincerity in Rin’s voice as he confessed.

Then Rin’s arms wrapped around him, and with a sigh, Rei tried to relax, tried to will his racing heart to slow.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Rei managed to hobble out of the bedroom and into the common room on his own, with some support from a walking stick and Rin hovering fretfully at his side. 

“I’m fine, Rin-san, it doesn’t hurt so much today,” Rei told him.  “I’ll be better soon.”

“You just sit down here, don’t get up. I’ll bring you some tea.”  And Rin was off, scurrying into the kitchens like a servant, causing Rei to smile despite himself.  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kisumi wandering in, sleepy-eyed but brimming with cheerfulness as always.

The perfect chance, Rei thought, remembering the conversation from last night.  Kisumi was one of the few of Rin’s friends who would have stuck with him during his adolescence, when Haruka and the others would have been on the run, and unlike Sousuke, the likely choice to gossip about anything with hardly any prompting.  It was difficult to believe Kisumi was from an established clan of spies, but apparently he was very skilled at espionage, when he wasn’t sharing juicy news about his friends to his other friends when no one asked for it.  It couldn’t even be regarded as sneaking around, not if it came from Kisumi, Rei reasoned with himself.

After the usual niceties, he managed to bring up the topic of Rin’s troubled past fairly quickly, and as he had surmised, Kisumi was ready to chat about whatever when it came to Rin or Sousuke or even Haruka.

“Ah, no thank you,” Rei interrupted before he began to digress, “I merely wanted to know if… perhaps Rin-san had any lovers in the past.  He seems like he would be popular, at least these days, and yet...” Rei made a motion to indicate that the absence of female admirers around town despite a disproportionately high number of attractive and available bachelor samurai from prestigious families should be regarded with much more seriousness than currently if these esteemed dynasties were to continue.

“Rin?  Oh no, not at all,” Kisumi answered.  “He’s such a romantic, with these crazy notions and ridiculous ideals about true love, I’m positive you are his first lover, of any gender.”

“Is that so?” Rei murmured faintly, blushing at the thought that he could even meet half of Rin’s admittedly preposterous standards, or be the first to.

“But there was this one girl…”  Kisumi continued.  “When we were sixteen, staying at Kyoto, Rin told us about a girl he had seen… However, when we all went to find her, it seemed she had disappeared without a trace.  He was devastated, cried himself to sleep for days.”

“Oh, how awful.”  Granted, Rin could tear up at pretty much anything, but from this, Rei felt sure he had discovered his answer.

“What’s awful, huh?”

“Rin-san!  I didn’t see you there!” Rei cried out.

Squinting at Rei suspiciously, Rin poured out a cup of tea for him, letting Kisumi serve himself.  “What’s awful?” he repeated after he was done, folding his arms across his chest.

“Umm…”

“Well, I was just telling Rei about the girl from Kyoto,” Kisumi offered.

Rin turned on Kisumi in a flash.  “What?!  Why would you?  Rei doesn’t need to know about that!”

“What girl from Kyoto?” Sousuke, who had trailed in after Rin.

“You know, that girl from the tea house Rin was so in love with?” Kisumi replied.

“Oh yeah, I remember… ghost girl…  at the ‘tea house.’”  Sousuke grinned at the fuming Rin beside him.

“Rin-san, if you don’t want to talk about it,” Rei said, trying to head off a possible argument, “I will not probe any further.  The past is the past, is it not?”

“Damn right.  Don’t bring that up again, you two.”

“Aww…” Kisumi made a pouting face, clearly disappointed at no longer being the center of attention.

For the rest of the day, Rin kept staring at Rei, until after the sun had set, when they were both settling down for the day in his room, he broke down and finally asked, “Rei, you’re not jealous, are you?”

Rei burst out into laughter.  “Of course not!”

“You don’t have anything to be jealous of,” Rin insisted.  “Trust me, you’re the only one for me.”

Wiping tears of amusement from his eyes, Rei said, “I’m not jealous, Rin-san.  I was curious, but only because I want to know more about you since we parted that first time.  But… it’s not important.”

His expression softening, Rin shook his head.  “You’re pretty nosy, Rei, but I guess it’s for the best I tell you myself before you hear some messed up version from Kisumi or Haru…  They’re always exaggerating and making me look bad, some friends!”

“If you really want to tell me, then I will listen, but if you’d rather not…”

“It’s stupid, but… I guess that’s romance,” Rin murmured, eyes averted slightly, cheeks reddening as he began his story.  “About five years ago, the three of us were staying at a ryokan in Kyoto for some diplomatic mission.  One afternoon I saw a servant girl dancing by herself in the back yard of the tea house next door.  It was a tea house, by the way, not a brothel.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Anyway… she wasn’t a maiko, just a commoner servant, but she danced so freely and beautifully in the light of the setting sun, like a fairy.  I was entranced, frozen as if in a spell.  I couldn’t bring myself to call out to her, I didn’t dare to disturb her dance.  Then someone called from within the tea house, and she picked up the laundry and went back inside.”

Rei could only nod encouragingly, although his eyebrows had risen as high as they could go.

“I waited by the windows for the next two evenings to catch a glimpse of her, but she never danced again.  So that’s when Sousuke and Kisumi decided we should all go into the tea house and look around for her.  It was expensive to even enter the premises, and Kisumi had to do some fast talking so Sousuke and I could go off on our own and search, but I guess by then she had disappeared.  None of the female servants I asked could recall such a person.  We had to leave the next day, so in the end, I never found her.”

“How… sad.”

“You better not be sarcastic,” Rin grumbled, sniffling audibly.

“There must be some logical explanation as to why she disappeared,” Rei muttered, rubbing his chin in thought.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.  I have you now.  You may not be a dancing fairy spirit, but... you take my breath away the same, Rei.”  Rin reached forward to embrace Rei and maybe even kiss him, but Rei put a hand over his mouth.

“Wait, but what if she really was a ghost?  Are you sure you hadn’t eaten any rotten food or were hallucinating?  You did have a cursed sword, didn’t you, could that have affected your vision?”

"No, Rei," Rin said with a long-suffering sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, that's it for now, I will try to get the second sexier part done before too long, maybe, haha... /stares at long list of unfinished fics /laughs in despair

**Author's Note:**

> This is a twofer fill - part of the reixsenpai samurai AU I had been working on, and also a sort of fill for injury/illness prompts at the rinrei gift exchange. The first half is the injury/comfort part, the second part will someday be the (not safe for work) fill for reixsenpai prompt dancing butterfly, when I uh, get around to it.


End file.
